Psychology plays an important role in our everyday lives. It affects how we view the world around us, and how the world around us affects us in return. That’s why many businesses use psychology to influence consumers and their feelings and thoughts about a certain product.
Similarly, humans are subconsciously affected by psychology in order to then affect other humans. Online reviews and ratings are areas where this phenomenon is particularly prominent.
Reviews can make or break and shape a website, business, or company’s reputation. It’s also a good way to get the word out about their products or services. While there are many different methods to this, for now, we’ll focus on the psychology behind online reviews, how this affects businesses, and if we can trust online reviews after all.
How psychology affects online reviews
Reading online reviews gives you a bit of insight into the perception of others when it comes to the product. Of course, this depends on whether the review is a customer review or an expert review. Both have their pros and cons and both are worth reading.
However, customer reviews have one advantage over expert reviews that directly ties into psychology. This advantage is the transparency they may have. These kinds of reviews fulfill the customer’s need for transparency so as to be sure they aren’t being sold the product, but that they are getting honest, peer-reviewed opinions on it.
Customer reviews also fulfill the buyer’s need for social belonging. Those who write the reviews want to share their experience, thereby creating a space for those who read reviews to resonate with them. Additionally, the interaction the buyer has with the brand can influence them to share their opinion through “incidental arousal”.
Finally, customer reviews help share insight into the review writer’s mind. This helps the review reader connect and receive influence from the writer. Of course, all this goes without saying that consumers highly value others’ opinions on a product before buying it. In fact, they place more value on a customer review than the information the company offers.
How businesses are affected
Businesses can also improve their product with the help of customer reviews. By taking this feedback and applying it to their product or service, they’ll receive free quality assurance. Additionally, by announcing these changes publicly, they’ll improve transparency even further. This is a point we’ve mentioned earlier that is important to customers.
These changes also bring about positive word of mouth about the business. Needless to say, this will increase consumer interest and revenue as a result.
Can you trust online reviews?
For the most part, online reviews are trustworthy and even beneficial to the consumer. However, learning how to spot a fake review and choosing which reviews to focus on will help more than just taking anyone’s opinion.
The bottom line is that you should take all reviews with a grain of salt. You need to do more research and reading before clicking buy on that product or subscribe to that service.
But why are reviews even important? Let’s take a look through the sphere of iGaming.
Why are online reviews important in iGaming?
When searching for the best new casinos in PA, you won’t click on any old website and register an account on it. Reading a review is the most time and money-efficient way to choose an online casino.
For starters, reviews can outline the pros and cons of the website as well as its strengths and weaknesses. Second, online casino review websites will let you compare different casinos easily and decide which one is the best for you.
Finally, reading online reviews can help you avoid fraudulent and unlicensed casinos. This information is either stated in a customer review or not displayed on an expert review site at all.
